Marc Trestman: Jay Cutler is bigger and stronger than last season

Posted by Josh Alper on June 10, 2014, 10:12 AM EDT

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The Bears lost Jay Cutler for spells last season because of a couple of different injuries, but they were able to withstand his absence without much damage to the offense thanks to the play of Josh McCown.

McCown is in Tampa now, leaving the backup duties to someone from the group of Jordan Palmer, Jimmy Clausen, Jarrod Johnson and David Fales. The chances that one of those players could repeat McCown’s performance isn’t great, making it all the more important for the Bears to have Cutler in the lineup for the full 16 games this time around. Coach Marc Trestman thinks that there’s a good chance of that happening with Cutler reporting for work this year in better condition than he was in last year.

“Jay has really worked hard in the offseason, and he has always been a hard worker in his conditioning and his training, but he has really amped it up,” Trestman said, via the Chicago Tribune. “He’s bigger, he’s stronger than a year ago, and he has really focused on staying physically well for the entire season. That’s No. 1 — we’ve got to keep him standing, keep him safe. And we see the improvements he’s made in working on different issues in his mechanics, and I think he’s feeling very comfortable back there in Year Two.”

In past years, one might respond by saying that being big and strong is great right up to the point that the offensive line breaks down and leaves Cutler to be a sitting duck. The Bears line made a huge improvement in pass protection last year, though, and could be even better this year with right guard Kyle Long and right tackle Jordan Mills entering their second NFL seasons.

Add that to a bigger, stronger Cutler and there’s plenty of reason for the Bears to feel optimistic about their offense heading into the 2014 season. If similarly strong signs appear on defense, the Bears should be in position to improve on their record in Trestman’s first season as coach.

Size and strength have never been his weaknesses. I’ve been a fan of his since watching him play at Vandy. Jay’s primary issue is his temperament … He’s not yet a well-rounded leader. He needs to become better at leading by example … For starters, a dose of humility wouldn’t hurt and with it, being more team oriented … focus on how he can better serve his teammates (and community) on and off the field.

Cutler has degree from Vanderbilt, he has a higher IQ than fans just like you.

Never heard of Lovie pushing Jay to get stronger, Trestman is a Godsend.

Cutler had his best season with the Bears in one season with a new coach and he didn’t even play the whole season.

Keep hating on him, I will be laughing when he torches your team with our top 3 offense in the league.
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Until he quits making bone headed plays at key moments in key games, he will never shake the rap he keeps getting. Same with Stafford.

Oh, and the “degree” from Vandy was to play football. He had offers all over the place and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in human and organizational development. By his lack of leadership on the field and acting like a 6 year old when things go sour…..I’m going to say he slept thru a lot of classes. But hey, he can get guys to huddle really well.

So he admits that his team wasn’t ready in previous years and that he didn’t get the most out of them. But I already knew that. He’s not a good HC, and I don’t believe that he can improve on the category of things that he has failed on in the past. If you value his opinion then make him a consultant, but an HC is a ridiculous position for him to try and fill. We have already seen plenty of evidence for why he’s not good at this!

In order for there to bears haters everywhere wouldn’t the bears first have to be a relevant team? Why would anyone expend any energy hating on such a terrible franchise?
Quitler may be bigger and stronger (although I doubt it) but he’s still going to be hurt for at least six games this season and now that you guys don’t have a capable backup anymore I’d say you’re in big trouble.

Most of you Cutler haters seem to not look at what he’s done most recently and also forget what he dealt with having to be protected by a very bad offensive line for a majority of his time as the Bears QB. It’s not a fluke that once the O-line started playing better that Cutler showed some of his potential and talent which translated in the Bears scoring the second most points in the league last season. Having said that, yes, he is prone to getting injured but if he can have some better than average pocket protection and not take too many hard hits maybe he can prove a lot of you wrong.
Also, to the Green Bay fans commenting on this, maybe you’ve forgotten, but you haven’t won the super bowl for a couple years. You all seem to think you’re still the defending champs. Sure you might win the NFC North again this season, but you still have San Fran and Seattle to get past. Also, your defense is nothing spectacular either.

Not mentioned (here or in many other articles) is Cutler’s diabetes. My 4th-grade granddaughter is diabetic and I can tell you first-hand it adds a whole extra layer of complexity to your life that you have to deal with every single day.

Cutler haters have at it, but the fact that he’s even in the league–much less able to perform at the level he does when he’s “on”–is a major achievement. And oh by the way, he donates a ton of time and money to diabetes-related causes and especially those pertaining to children.

bearshaterseverywhere- I applaud Bears fan for sticking by their guy for so long. Over those years we have heard every excuse why Cutler didn’t succeed from the line to , no TE , to no WRs. In other words – you wanted a bullet proof offense for him to do well. Well the Bears now have the closest thing to that. So much so a journey man QB can come into the offense and do better than Cutler. my point – if you have make the offense perfect for Cutler to succeed – what good is he? A good or great QB makes due with the tools he has and still wins. Cutler is neither. I have 8 years of reality to back up my claim, you wishful thinking.

“Quitler may be bigger and stronger (although I doubt it) but he’s still going to be hurt for at least six games this season and now that you guys don’t have a capable backup anymore I’d say you’re in big trouble.”

So let me get this straight….You, probably being the only person in this world that knew that McCown, who had just taken a job to coach a high school football team before signing with the Bears was going to light it up last season that way???? Oh please. Perhaps the WR’s and RB had something to do with his success as well?? Nothing against McCown, as I’ll miss him a lot, but don’t just all of the sudden think you knew how good he was going to be.

bassplucker – so we are supposed to impressed he has a physical defect? Should we feel the same about the QB with lack of arm strength, runs slow or has poor vision? No, would say the QB lacks the physical tools to be a NFL QB. We don;t give these QBs a break for this – nor should we give one to Cutler.

NO DOUBT, Cutler is quality and a Top 20 NFL QB, but he still cannot read defenses as well as the top tier QBs, and, in addition, he gets flustered with “happy feet” and has poor fundamentals when a major pass rush occurs — and, remember, he’s 1-9 vs. GB….That’s not a typo. Embarrassing comes to mind more than the headlines accolades.

Lets not get too far ahead of ourselves just yet though. Again, Green Bay’s defense was and possibly still not very good either. All I’m saying is that the distance between the two teams may be narrowing a little as the Bears offence has made huge strides and if (a big if) the defense improves for the Bears, it could be much more interesting than a lot of you Packers fans care to see.

johnelwayishorsefaced – you assume that human nature is we pick on the popular kid and home coming king or queen. The opposite if true, we envy those people and look up to them even though they make us angry. On the other hand we relentlessly pick on the weak and those inferior to us. Why? Because it is all to easy. You know exactly where the Bears fit into that category you stated it yourself. A terrible franchise.

The Packers defense had their own problems last year with injuries. A healthy defense with some of their best players back will just put that much more distance between the Packers and the Bears again.

Cutler only got a 26 on his wonderlic. By contrast elite QB’s like Rodgers, Brady and Manning were all in the mid-30’s.

Rule of 26-27-60.
Here is the gist of it: If an NFL prospect scores at least a 26 on the Wonderlic test, starts at least 27 games in his college career and completes at least 60 percent of his passes, there’s a good chance he will succeed at the NFL level.

As you can see….Cutler just barely made the cut and his mediocre career is reflective of that.

anybody who says it is the qb’s job to make the team around him better obviously did not watch what Cutler had to work with before last year. no qb would have made those bears teams better. I would love to have seen brady,manning, rodgers or brees play behind that line and in the offenses and I use that term loosely he played in. those guys would not have survived a game let alone had record setting seasons playing in a turner or tice offense.

Rodgers was the most sacked QB in the NFL an put up elite numbers. The excuses never stop for Cutlet. The problem is his decision making and forcing terrible throws into coverage, not the players he’s had around him.

Compare McCown and Cutler playing with the same players around them last year. McCown thoroughly outplayed Cutler because he played SMART and didn’t make stupid throws as evidence by his only 1 INT. Unless Cutlet gets a brain transplant, expect more of the same.

Cutler and the Bears offense will be as close to unstoppable as can be this year. We will go as far as our defense lets us. If the defense holds up and we dont get decimated with injury like last year this team will win the division and and make a run at the superbowl. THIS IS OUR YEAR!

Really?? You’re going to use the eight games that McCown played last season and just declare him the better QB just like that? Did you watch the other eight games that Cutler started or are you just pulling your facts from the air?

I don’t think I’ve read one person say that Cutler is better than Rodgers. No one is arguing this so I’m not sure why you Packers fans have to continually bring this up. Yes, Rodgers is the superior QB when comparing him to Cutler, but to just say that McCown is better than Cutler based on very good eight games is silly and foolish.
I suppose you believe McCown is going to pass for over 4000 yards, 30 TD’s / 2 int’s with a plus 100 QB rating for Tampa this season since he’s so smart and talented.

bearshaterseverywhere – No doubt there is a chance that Jay has a great year. A very good chance in fact, based on the offense they have surrounded him with. You state yourself – that Cutler has had a shaky past. Knowing that – why do you pay him like an above average QB? You were able to get that production out of a journeyman and average starting QB? I think the Bears got caught up in the – look how much we invested for Cutler already mindset. We would be admitting failure if we did not resign him. Many poker players get caught in this – after putting in large sums to the pot, they keep betting with the losing hand, after an opponent raise. A smart player knows when to fold and move on.

pete2112 – I don’t think people are saying that McCown is a better QB than Cutler. I think people are saying that a below average QB was able to flourish in the Bears offense and produce as well as Cutler. You claim after 8 games it is hard to determine a QB. How about 8 average years of being QB by Cutler – what does that say?

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that they both played in the same system, with the same players and almost the same number of games. Yet one QB played smart and within the system and the other didn’t. A passer rating difference of 20 is VERY large when you look at where QB’s are grouped from top to bottom in the NFL.

Numbers don’t lie. Trestman’s system fit McCown’s strengths very well while Cutler was the same old mediocre QB he has always been, Trestman’s offense relies on good decision making and that is why Cutler will never flourish in that or any offense.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that they both played in the same system, with the same players and almost the same number of games. Yet one QB played smart and within the system and the other didn’t. A passer rating difference of 20 is VERY large when you look at where QB’s are grouped from top to bottom in the NFL.

Numbers don’t lie. Trestman’s system fit McCown’s strengths very well while Cutler was the same old mediocre QB he has always been, Trestman’s offense relies on good decision making and that is why Cutler will never flourish in that or any offense

I think Cutler is in the same class as Romo, good QB, not great.
Can he win a Super Bowl?? Of course he can if everything falls in place. Dillfer and Flacco won one and he is better than them.
I just remember the Championship game when he sat on the bench supposedly hurt and the back up then looked better and made the game close against Green Bay.
From that point on I thought he was a quitter..

There is nothing wrong with Bears fans being happy with the mediocre QB in Jay Cutler given he’s the best to play for them in probably team history. Just because he’s better than the garbage before him doesn’t mean you have to continually make excuses for him as being elite if only (fill in the blank with excuse of the week)….

I love all the people calling Cutler mediocre, horrible, loser, dumb, etc….. I’m going to guess that you’re fans of a different team and don’t know the history of the Bears from the last twenty plus years from a QB stand point… As a life long Bears fan it’s basically comes down to this:
The Bears have had no one and I’ll repeat this – NO ONE as good as Cutler at QB since Jim McMahon and even he didn’t have all the tools Cutler has to offer.

This isn’t saying Cutler is the greatest QB in history, far from it, but he’s the best QB this team has had for a long time. I’ll certainly take this situation with Cutler over what we as Bears fans dealt with in the 90’s into the 2000’s. I’m not sure what you expect the Bears to do. I guess it would be better to draft yet another first round bust as they’ve done countless times than have a QB that could possibly get his team to the playoffs if things align right.

Here’s a little fact – getting a high quality franchise QB is not as easy as say the Packers having Favre and Rodgers back to back. Someday you Packers fans will have to deal with not having a QB of such high caliber just as the Patriots will find out soon enough when Brady retires and so on…

All these haters forget that Cutler has been forced to change offensive coordinators and systems every year since his 2nd-to-last year in Denver (Martz stayed for less than two years AND changed systems midway through seasons).
Oh, and from 2009-2013 O-line, there is only 1 lineman who still remains a starter in the NFL!
Realistically, how is a QB supposed to produce when he has play calls requiring 7-step drops, but less than 3 seconds to throw? Cutler has never been the problem; any sane professional would complain, yell, and pout if he was stuck in a situation that put him in a position to be steamrolled by 250+ pounders the majority of the time:
Jay has done the best with what he has had since coming to Chicago!

I agree with your comparison to a Poker style analogy, but this is the NFL not the World Series of Poker. Marc and Jerry see something they like in Jay and he was our best option.

I root for my team no matter WHAT! I don’t care about what any other fan’s opinion is, Jay is the Bears QB and I will support and root for him until he’s gone, plain and simple. Whining and crying and complaining about him is what the other opposing fans do and it makes it that much better when Jay does well…..

thestrategyexpert says:Jun 10, 2014 10:40 AMSo he admits that his team wasn’t ready in previous years and that he didn’t get the most out of them. But I already knew that. He’s not a good HC, and I don’t believe that he can improve on the category of things that he has failed on in the past. If you value his opinion then make him a consultant, but an HC is a ridiculous position for him to try and fill. We have already seen plenty of evidence for why he’s not good at this!

Who are you talking about. Last year was trestmans first year as hc in the nfl. Before that he was hc in the cfl where his team won 2 championships and set records. His qb threw for over 4500 yrds every year. Before that he made rich gannon mvp during the 02′ superbowl run. Hes a qb and offensive genius. Stop acting like you know something when you dont. Catch up your a lil slow.